Our Journey
by Halofollower064
Summary: Prelude to "Our Journey" First love story guys! Bear with me, don't hate! WARNING: GAY RELATIONSHIPS AHEAD DON'T LIKE/DON'T READ! Please comment on what you all think!
1. Prelude

You know, people always say that your different. That your something… MORE than others. What if told you that was true? What if, what if your life was more than just… what you are now? I-I know your doubting me. I can tell by the look in your eyes. But, just think! What if… with all of the life going on around you, you just took a minute to continue down this road and discover something about yourself?

What if… You knew me?  
What if… I could help you… remember you?  
What if… you just took a second to look at this? This… whatever this is?

… would you take that chance?  
Really? Well then, let's see how far our story goes down the rabbit hole…


	2. Our Journey: Chapter 1

"Ahh hah!" I sobbed as I punched open the door to the quarters in which I stayed. I had lost them. Lost them all. I was all that was left of them. My comrades, all dead. ALL WASTED! We had made it so far into this godforsaken war. We had strove forward while others fell. We had remained standing. When I got to the Pelican that afternoon, that same pelican that my team and I were so used to seeing, and Thomas had opened the doors to only see me and another, he could barely keep himself together. We had all made it so far, all had survived. But just one lucky guess, one blind shot, one stupid grenade, all and other factors causing the death of so many of our friends. Thomas understood. Thomas got it. He had faced what we did and gone through what so many others had that he couldn't deal with it anymore. He had gotten a transfer to be the flight crewman of Pelican 7-49Alpha. "At least I don't have to know who they were," he told me one night when we all had been around a bonfire after our first successful mission in our new home. But then Thomas had been permanently assigned to our group of squads. His flight commander and he were in charge of getting us in and out of our missions in one piece. He did his damned hardest too. Whenever our squad got onto the pelican, we knew Thomas and Andrew had us covered. We were safe in the pelican. Whenever we lost someone Thomas was one of the last to find out. He knew he couldn't have done anything about it, never could. So as the numbers dwindled, so did Andrews and Thomas's spirits. One by one, but by bit they deteriorated. That night I only Thomas, Marian, myself ", and Andrew were seated at the fire. What used to be a circle of sixteen carefree, loving individuals had been reduced to only a small cube of four. They cried that night, like we did after every mission where a comrade was lost. We comforted each other. We managed to keep going. But Sooner or later the bonfires seemed less and less consoling. When your world has been reduced to almost nothing, that's when you find yourself lost, unsure of what to do or where to go. That's how I felt that night when I sat by the bonfire in full battle attire. I was the last one, the other three already having left to go grief alone. After awhile I finally. Stood and put the fire out. I wasn't sure what to do as I numbly walked to the room. I'd lost three of them today. Susan, Johnny... Clair...  
"Oh god Clair!" I wailed as I striped pack and threw its contents in various places around the room. She was a sister to me. A SISTER! And I couldn't protect even her! I took off my other pack and threw it into my closet, trying my hardest not to just take my knife and go kill the man who sent me, us on that mission. That bastard knew what we were walking into and that 'bastard' still sent us in! We were supposed to be able to beat the odds. That's what they told us. But they decided it was best to not tell us that they had a whole damn ARMY THERE?!  
"LIERS!" I whispered as I kicked open the door to the bathroom and got into the shower. I turned it on and just sat down. The water hit the wall above me and the misty spray did very little to wash away the blood and soot that covered my armor.  
'Clair's blood,' I thought as I once again relived that day.  
It was just four of us left. All the others were gone. Johnny covered Susan, Susan had covered Clair. Then Johnny was struck by a Banshee's missile.  
'At least he never saw it coming.'  
Susan was caught by Plasma machine fire as she crossed the fields after Clair. We heard her last hurrah as she took a needle rifle to the face. Then it was just Clair and I. Two members in an alien environment just trying to make it to extraction. As we were running I looked over at Clair, she had lost her helmet awhile back and grinned at me.  
"We're going to make it Jason! We got this in the bag and you and I are gonna-." I watched as the brute shots blade struck her. Thrown by one of our pursuers, the blade had no trouble going clean into Clair. I knew what was about to happen and held out my right arm as she stumbled into it before picking her up and moving like I had never before. She wasn't going to die on me, Not Clair. I had burst through the brush and Thomas was there, yelling for me to move forward towards him. The man manning the turret next to him strafed rounds into the coverage behind us and took out a few if the hostiles. Thomas ran out and grabbed Clair while I helped provide cover by throwing the remaining frags I had into the trees. The screams of agony fell on deaf ears as we took off and got the hell outta there. Clair was losing too much blood. We said our goodbyes and Clair told me she loved me more than anything in the world before she finally lost too much red and passed on into her second life.  
Thomas stared at Clair with a look of utter astonishment. "The bio foam... Why didn't the bio foam...?"  
When we had got back to the base I told the medics that I wanted the blade from her before leaving for the bonfire with Thomas and Susan, who had come to the hangar to wait for us an hour earlier.  
"Now I'm here..." I muttered to myself as the misty spray covered my visor with the blurriness that was my life. I didn't even hear him come inside the room more than saw two brown blurs appear in front of me as the shower door closed. I struck out instinctively and my hand was easily caught in a gentle yet firm grip as the Sanghelli crouched in front of me. As I continued to fight him he pinned my other hand beneath a foot then wiped away the water on my visor. When I saw it was him I visibly relaxed and noted that he wasn't decent. It wasn't the first time I'd seen him like that, and had just gotten used to it. I focused on his face and saw the gentle resolve that was so often hidden from the world. I understood then and let him help me, relaxing myself so he knew I wouldn't lash out again. He freed my hands before leaning forward and beginning the process of taking off my armor. When he took off my helmet I looked away. A small part (a very small part) of me was ashamed to be caught crying in front of another Warrior, but he didn't care as gently took my chin in his hand and turned me back towards him. As I looked into his eyes and he into mine, I knew that he didn't care that I was utterly broken and weak. He was here for me. Thel was here for me, a true brother in arms. After a moment he did something he'd never really done that often. He hugged me then and there, no questions asked, none needed. Thel knew what I was going through. He had known as soon as he entered the disheveled room. My limp form sitting in the shower only confirmed what he had previously suspected. Thel cared, just like he always did. I didn't bother struggling as he began to wash the battles marks from my body. I didn't squirm against his movements as he cleaned my more sensitive regions. I didn't argue as he toweled first himself, than me off. Nor did I fight as he proceeded to pick me up and carry me to his bed and deposit me on it before getting in after me. It didn't seem to faze me as he pulled the covers over our forms and pulled me against his chest, his warmth lulling away the pains of today. The only thing that threw me off (dragging me back to reality) was the sudden thrumming purr that came from deep within his body. I squirmed a little as the vibrations traveled through both of our bodies, but he just pulled me closer to him and purred with an increasing consistently. Realizing that I wasn't going anywhere I instead turned slightly to look at him. His face was full of understanding as he gently nuzzled mine with his. I didn't know what to make of the situation, and as if reading my mind, Thel murmured, "Go to sleep Jason. I'll stand guard."  
"You aren evn standn," I mumbled. It earned a chuckle from Thel as he tucked me into his chest and resumed providing warm and vibratuous reassurance. It didn't take long for the thrumming to fully relax me and I quietly tucked my head against his right bicep before quickly fading into a heavy state of unconsciousness.


	3. Our Journey: Chapter 2

"Jacob. JACOB."  
"Huh? Wha?" I jerked up to see Winfield and  
Winfrey looking at me. Looking around the falcon I saw that the others were looking at me as well. No, not at me, at the new base. I looked back at the twins and they both pointed to their right, visibly unnerving the poor soldier next to me with their robotic-like synchronization. I followed their arms and saw what was to be our new home.  
"Eden," I murmured as we drew closer to our destination in a high and tight formation. Some said it was a piece of shit, others stating that it was an amazing place to be stationed. I was agreeing with the latter as I looked it over for the first time. An enormous hanger to the North, vehicle bay to the south, and some lookout points and defense grids surrounding the actual base itself. The base seemed to be surrounding a lake in its center, and boats traveled to and fro, carrying cargo across its blurred waters. This base was founded on the inside of a geographical bowl (I heard it from one of my friends I had to leave behind upon transferring here), the reasoning being that if any massive blast radius element detonated anywhere but in the bowl itself, the hills would act as a blast barrier so that no blast waves could come inside and cause any damage to the base and its personnel. And just to be sure the place wasn't dominated by air superiority, there were stations set on the crests of the hills that would create a defensive 'flat' over the bowl in case anyone got the jump on us. That would give the fly boys the time they needed to prepare and meet the enemy in Zeus's realm. Glancing around I could tell that all terrain vehicles were the only ones being used by this base.  
"You guys pumped up to see where we'll be staying for a long-ass time?" I asked glancing at the twins. Their synchronized fist pump and the other marines nervous looks agreed with me and I laughed to ease up the mood before sending out an arrival sequence towards our new higher ups that we were here.

Inside our stateroom nothing moved. I could tell that Jeremy still wasn't anywhere close to peace with what had happened and he had every right to be. Those blasted brutes and their covenant had taken so much from him, finally forced his battle strain to the breaking point. This was the first time he didn't put up a struggle to me helping him, which was bad. No matter what happened, Jeremy had always been able to bounce back, and even made it his objective to prove to me that he didn't need any comforting from me to do so. I enjoyed his stubbornness during our time spent together as brothers in arms, but lately Jeremy seemed to be spacing out, not really paying attention to what happened around him while he was on base, and when he finally lost her, he truly seemed to stop paying attention to everything. It disturbed me.  
'He needs more help than what I can give him.' I thought as I pulled his body against mine once more, nudging his head with my mandibles as he whined in his sleep. He seemed to relax slightly and after a moment of fidgeting, fell back into a silent state of unconsciousness. This had been going on for a few days. I made sure he ate and had water on normal intervals. The medical staff had offered to watch him for me, but I only accepted their requests when their was something I had to take care of or do that didn't involve him. Even then there were more then one of my brothers around to watch over him while I was gone. They all had the same report. Distant, emotionless, lifeless. Jeremy was losing his personal battle, and there wasn't anything we could do about it. A beeping sound brought me back to reality. I looked for the source of the loud disturbance and found that it was Jeremy's comm unit. Reaching over Jeremy I plucked the object off the desk before holding it up to my earbud.  
"This is Thel."  
"Thought as much man. How's he holding up?" By voice alone I knew it was Thomas. He checked in almost four times a day and never missed his chances to stop by and talk to Jeremy. I made it a point to thank him for that every time he came.  
Looking at Jeremy once more I murmured so as not to wake him, "Still as is usual lately."  
An audible sigh.  
"Figured as much. Hey, tell him the new recruits are here. He's been wanting to see them since he first heard they were being transferred here, but..." His voice trailed off and I nodded out of subconscious habit.  
"I understand. I'll let him know. And Thomas?"  
"Yea I know man, no problem. Friends are friends and we take care of our own..."  
"That includes you as well, Thomas. To which I am grateful."  
"Gotcha, Thomas out."  
The line went dead and I set it down next to me before sighing. Jeremy probably didn't even care anymore, but it was still worth a shot, long-shot as it may be. I looked down and startled slightly to see him staring back, fully awake.  
Gathering myself, "Jeremy, that was Thomas. He said that-"  
"I made you jump."  
I stopped talking. The hoarse voice was distant, faded into the depths of my mind. Jeremy hadn't spoken in a long time. It was rough, but I was glad he was talking before he lost the ability to do so, as was per usual with longer lasting battle strain of higher degrees.  
Grinning I pushed his chest with my hand teasingly.  
"You got me once for your every how many times, Jeremy?"  
He grinned his small grin and chuckled, Finally coming back out of his shell of despair, if only for a moment.  
"See? I CAN Intimidate you. But that's besides the point, I heard 'new recruits.' What's the word. They made it, right?"  
I nodded. It wasn't un-common for a new shipment of soldiers to be intercepted by enemy aircraft while en-route to their destination.  
Jeremy let out an audible sigh of relief before hopping up in bed. as he clamored across the sheets I reached around his waist and pulled him back towards me. He turned to look at me with what the humans called a 'what's up?' Expression. I looked at his face, trying to find any signs of the battle-strained Jeremy I saw only hours ago. His look became a softer tone as he gently gripped my forearm.  
"I'm okay, Thel, really."  
"You were not okay recently." I stated, determined to find the true meaning as to why his mood suddenly seemed to change. His face fell slightly, but I continued along.  
"You lost two comrades who were very close to you, Jeremy. Yet here you are, laughing and smiling as if nothing ever happened."  
That earned me a punch in the gut, and While the punches blow wasn't necessarily hard, it was surprisingly heavy, even for Jeremy. As I controlled to get my breathing back in order, Jeremy used the opportunity to get away from me and off the bed. He whipped back around to face me, anger evident on his face.  
"What do you want Thel? I lost a SISTER and a brother! And you want to know why I'm suddenly happy for once?! What, are you trying to keep me depressed?"  
I couldn't manage a vocal reply. I settled for shaking my head. Jeremy sighed and pressed his hand against his face  
As a worried mother would.  
"... It's complicated Thel. I can't tell you right now."  
Upon seeing me about to inquire further, Jeremy took his leave, shaking his head as he went into the bathroom. After a few moments of contemplating the recent events I stood up and walked towards the bathroom, avoiding the ceiling fan as I did so. The door was locked. Jeremy only locked the doors when he was either overly angered or saddened. I doubted it was the latter.

"Bastard." I muttered as the warm water soaked my body. This was one of the few times I ever hated Thel, and I hated it. Hated him.  
"Act like nothing happened?" I couldn't forget it. Leaning against the wall was the only way to stop myself from sliding down to the floor again. I knew if I did I'd recede to where I had been for the past weeks. Sure, Thel helped me and kept watch over me (even as I slept), but the only real absolution was my new mission. I'd already hinted at it with a few others. The smallest of rumors beginning to spread. I had a chance to make things right.  
"By god I am going to take it." i murmured as i clutched the new knife in my hands.  
"I swear to you."

I looked up to see the bathroom door open.  
An ODST stepped out, visor black and emotionless.  
'Oh no... Not this... Not again'  
"Jeremy, please-"  
"Get ready, Ranger. We have objectives to complete." And with that he walked out the door to wait. An emotionless statue. A silent soldier. A ghost.


End file.
